AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/13 Report--

Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and a shortage of spare parts, two Mazda factories in Japan were forced to stop production again. On April 12, Japanese carmaker Mazda said that due to the blockade of the epidemic and other controls, the factories of Mazda's cooperative enterprises had stopped production and some parts could not be procured. Mazda's Hiroshima headquarters factory and Fangfu factory in Japan will stop production for two days from April 14 to 15. It is understood that due to the shortage of semiconductors, Mexican factories are also expected to stop production for two days in April.

This is the second time this month that Mazda has announced a suspension of production. On March 24, production at Mazda's Hiroshima and Fangfu factories was suspended for two days from April 4 to 5, also because of the disruption of auto parts supply caused by COVID-19 's epidemic.

The Hiroshima Corporation factory in the two factories that stopped production this time is located in the southern district of Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, while the Fangfu factory is located in Fangfu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The two factories stopped production twice in April due to logistics disruptions due to outbreaks and a shortage of auto parts. So far, it is not known whether the shutdown of the two plants will affect Mazda's production.

Mazda Fangfu Factory

Auto industry concerns from the Mazda official website, Mazda was founded on January 30, 1920, headquartered in Hiroshima Prefecture Funaka town Xindi, in 2008, Mazda in Japan has 18500 employees and Hiroshima and Fangfu two manufacturing bases, after 1992 Mazda tried to enter the Chinese market. Mazda mainly produces CX-5, MAZDA3 and CX-9 models in Japan. Data show that from January to February 2022, Mazda produced 131029 vehicles in Japan, down 9.4 per cent from a year earlier. In terms of sales, Mazda's cumulative global sales from January to February in 2022 were 198857, down 6.0 per cent from a year earlier, of which 31393 were sold in Japan's home market, down 6.2 per cent from a year earlier. Judging from the data, both production and sales volume, Mazda Japan's local market showed a downward trend from January to February.

In addition, CCTV Finance reported that due to the slow supply of spare parts and the long-term lack of relief from the chip shortage under the epidemic, a number of Japanese car companies have announced work stoppage or production cuts one after another, including Mazda, Mitsubishi Motor, Honda and so on. New car sales in Japan hit a 45-year low of 4.21 million in the 2021 fiscal year to the end of March, according to the latest figures. Of Japan's eight major car companies, with the exception of Mitsubishi, the other seven showed a decline in sales, of which Mazda fell 16%, the highest decline among Japan's eight car companies.

In fact, Mazda's performance in the Chinese market is also not satisfactory. On April 8, Mazda (China) officially released its retail results in the Chinese market for the first quarter of 2022 on its website. Data show that Mazda's cumulative sales in China from January to March in 2022 were 35853, down 28.2% from a year earlier, including 19198 in January, down 6.96% from a year earlier, 8047 in February, down 23.78% from a year earlier, and 8608 in March, down 54.0% from a year earlier, which means that Mazda has declined to varying degrees for three consecutive months since 2022, including two months of sales of less than 10,000 vehicles. At present, Mazda's models on sale in China include Unksera, Atez, CX-8, CX-5, CX-4 and CX-30/CX-30 EV. The main source of sales is Oncella, with a cumulative sales of 21347 vehicles in the first three months, followed by CX-5 and CX-30 with 5837 and 3704 respectively, while the rest are very mediocre.

According to Mazda's product plan, between 2022 and 2023, Mazda will launch a number of SUV products, including Mazda CX-50, Mazda CX-60, Mazda CX-70, Mazda CX-80 and Mazda CX-90. Starting from 2025, Mazda will launch a product line of EV dedicated platform and complete electrification of all models by 2030.

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